Physical action sports typically involve a risk of injury. When a cheerleader participates in a physical sport, the player assumes at least a portion of that risk. In some sports, such as football and hockey, a player may be injured by colliding with another player. In baseball, being hit by a ball or bat can cause serious injury. In these and other such sports, protective equipment has been developed and used to protect the players. Types of known protective sports equipment are various body pads, helmets and protective face masks. The known protective face masks have been developed to accommodate the particular needs of the sport in which they are used; for example, metal grid baseball catchers' masks or hockey goalie masks are suited to their respective sports.
Traditionally, cheerleading has been viewed as an auxiliary activity to encourage the team players of other sports to win. Cheers, the activity performed by cheerleaders, have become more elaborate and athletic in recent years, as evidenced by the spectacular halftime displays at football games. Along with the increase in the creativity and complexity of the cheers performed, cheerleading squads have been participating in competitions that have contributed to raising cheerleading to an exciting and challenging sport in its own right. These competitions are highly physical in nature, including gymnastic feats of strength, balance and skill. As an inherent result of the growth of cheerleading from a sideline activity to a competitive sport, the cheerleading participants are becoming more subject to injury from falling, collisions and impacting body parts.
While injury may occur to limbs and the body trunk in cheerleading as well as in other sports, damage to the face is of special concern because of the potential loss of sight or permanent disfigurement. In fact, due to the need for some cheerleading participants to support other cheerleading participants in acrobatic formations, body protection is impractical, but facial protection is important. Thus a need exists for a protective face mask that is usable in the sport of cheerleading. In addition to providing protection for all parts of the face of the cheerleader, such a mask should not interfere with vision, breathing or general agility.